Fracking row continues as UK shale gas drilling recommences

Credit: mygridgb.co.uk

Opponents seem to imagine there’s a magic button to press for extra energy when it’s dark and not windy, rather than use the reliable power of fuel-burning. But in the real world the UK already uses vast amounts of gas for heating, cooking, electricity generation, industrial processes and more.

Exploratory shale gas drilling will begin today in the UK for the first time in seven years, reports PEI.

However, already this morning protesters have tried to prevent shale gas firm Cuadrilla from recommencing ‘fracking’ at a site in Lancashire, England.

Operations at the site near Blackpool have been at the centre of a legal row for several years between Cuadrilla and opponents to shale gas, who claimed that drilling at the site was not safe because the process of hydraulic fracturing – the blasting of rocks with jets of water to release gas inside – caused seismic disruption.

But that row came to an end on Friday when a judge ruled that there was no reason why exploratory drilling could not start again.

Shale gas advocates say that any reserves found in Britain would reduce the current need for Britain to import gas from the Middle East and the US.

Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said on Friday that he was “delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations. We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire. If commercially recoverable, this will displace costly imported gas, with lower emissions, significant economic benefit and better security of energy supply for the UK.”

Continued here.